I came across a Palitoy section on Friends reunited recently. As you can see from the link below someone claiming to be the Chief designer at Palitoy has commented on the HQ.Is this Bob or another of member of the team?

Did the writers of the original Battle Action Force promo story know about Special Weapons Force?

All of the vehicle designs used in that strip are based upon the prototypes seen in the 1983 catalogue. The Cosmic Cruiser and Swordfish are the same as the catalogue prototypes, not to mention the Space Force base!

Clearly the artist worked from these photos, is there a good chance that the SWF photos were also included in their source material? The backdrops would indicate that these photos were taken at the same time.

My reason for asking is that in the very first Action Force comic strip, in his very first appearance, in his very first word balloon, Baron Ironblood says:

That is too much of a coincidence! Could it be that The Baron stole his technology from Special Weapons Force? Did Boffin create the Laser Exterminator?

Was any kind of visual & other types of reference material (of Action Force toys) would of been given to the artists & writers of the comic to use, would of they received actual toys or just pictures, blueprints & charactor file cards to work from?

Also did any of the creative team who were working on the comics ever suggest ideas for new characters & vehicles that could of been produced as toys?

Was any market research done for Action Force, such as asking children what they would like to see & would play with?

Who had final say upon the finished designs & items that did or didn't get produced?

A lot of the larger (& higher price range) playsets & vehicles (Z Force H.Q. & A.T.C.) were repainted Hasbro products... did Palitoy ever have any similer ideas, or concepts, for that were abandoned (or had to be scaled down) due to high projected production costs & recommended retail price?

The figure looks as if it's modeled on some of the plates/pictures in the Osprey Men At Arms series, particularly their first c. 1981 book on the SAS. Were any other figures inspired by the Osprey reference books apart from ? Or other sources such as the artwork for the plates in the Marshall Cavendish "Falklands War" volume?

Geoff Campion used Tony Geraghty's 'This Is the SAS' as a reference source for some of his artwork, not least his "Super Soldiers of the SAS" booklet, also the Osprey Men At Arms series. Did he find these independently or were they recommended by you and your team?

The back stories of many Action Force and Enemy characters, and many of the Battle Action Force stories, derived inspiration from the secret wars and anti-terrorist operations - and, of course, the terrorist movements themselves - of the 1960s and 1970s. How much influence did such contemporary history have on the design process for the characters?

Was Boffin of Special Weapons Force based on yourself?

Was Boffin somehow an inspiration for Baron Ironblood? After all, you are name-checked in the special edition of the Roboskull blueprints at Matto Grosso Laboratories as "Boff"

The 1983 catalogue had many interesting prototypes, particularly for Space Force. Some of the Space Force figures appear on an early Battle Action Force 'competition' cover. How close did they, the Space Force base and the novel Cosmic Cruiser get to the production line?

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